The show marked the debut of FocusTrack's new support
for MA Lighting's grandMA2
console, which received its first beta test on the
show and came through it with flying colours.

"Joel Silver, the associate lighting designer on the
show, has just the worst timing - or perhaps a very
pioneering spirit," comments FocusTrack's creator,
Rob Halliday. "Back in 2007 he got in touch wanting
to use FocusTrack with the Eos console on
Young
Frankenstein; the show became the first
to use FocusTrack with an Eos. Now here he was
again, asking to use FocusTrack with a grandMA2 -
something we were in the process of doing, but
certainly weren't done with."

Nonetheless, a definite deadline for a focus plotting
session - during the week of the LDI show in Las
Vegas - spurred on development, to the point where a
beta test version of FocusTrack was ready to go in
time for the Blue Man team. As always, the software
processed Blue Man's showfile, generating a list of
which lights were actually used in which presets in
the show, as well as a cuelist and a list of
conventional fixtures in the show indicating which
were used.

The show's hectic production schedule meant that the
only time available to document the focuses
photographically were two short post-show, late night
sessions. Here, FocusTrack proved the power of having
the software be able to drive the console and trigger
the camera during the focus plot session, allowing
each focus of each light - almost 1400 pictures - to
be captured comfortably in one session, with the
second session used to capture 'reverse shots' of
lights focused into the auditorium.

"Documenting the moving lights for this show would
just not have been possible in the time made
available to us without FocusTrack, " comments Joel
Silver. "It was great that it was able to work with
our grandMA2 console in time - and the support as we
first tested it and then put it to use was
fantastic."

"Thanks to all involved with the show - particularly
Joel, programmer Benny Kirkham - who contributed some
great suggestions for new functions, and Tabitha
Rodman of Blue Man Group for picking FocusTrack, and
then for their support as we worked out some of the
inevitable grandMA2 import kinks," notes Rob
Halliday. "The show looked fantastic; FocusTrack will
help keep it looking fantastic through what will
hopefully be a long and successful run. Now we just
have to predict which kind of console Joel is going
to use next so we can try to be there ready for him!"

GrandMA2 functionality in FocusTrack is now available
to all in beta test form; FocusTrack
continues to work with ETC Eos family, grandMA1
and Strand 500-series consoles as it has always
done. Full details of getting show data from the
grandMA2 into FocusTrack, as well as many more
tips on using FocusTrack, can be found on the
tips page of this website.

A complete, integrated solution for documenting show
lighting - conventional as well as moving lights -
FocusTrack has been used on countless productions
round the world, including Nine To Five
(another grandMA2-controlled show, lit by Ken
Billington), Spring Awakening and Hair
(also lit by Kevin Adams), the Tony Award-winning
Once (lit by Natasha Katz), Cinderella
(lit by Kenneth Posner), Evita (lit by Neil
Austin), Billy Elliot (lit by Rick Fisher),
Les MisÚrables and The Phantom of the
Opera (both lit by Paule Constable), and many
more. FocusTrack is also in use by companies
including Cirque du Soleil, English National Opera,
Glyndebourne and the National Theatre.

Performing nightly at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino,
Blue Man Group offers an experience never seen
before. Blue Man Group provides audiences with a
fully immersive audiovisual experience. Born of the
creative urge to explore the unknown, the show is a
combination of science, comedy, music and vibrant
visual effects. The explosion of color, humor, music
and technology comes to life every night inside the
Blue Man Theater. It's the only show with a "smoking
section," the only show with brains, the only show
with balls and the only show that bursts out of the
theatre with a nightly procession of musical joy and
luminescence 45 minutes prior to the first
performance of the night.